The classic, the rare, the obscure…you movie junkies love this stuff. It’s always cool to discover the weird films made by familiar faces. Kudos Matt Holmes and Peter Willis of Obssessed With Film for assembling a Top 10 of little known classics.
You can watch 5 of them right now at Internet Archive. Whoa, is that Telly Savalas!? I’m going to watch Quicksand! now…it has Peter Lorre and Mickey Rooney together.
Check them out:
Horror Express http://www.archive.org/details/horror_express_ipod
Suddenly http://www.archive.org/details/suddenly_avi
Impact http://www.archive.org/details/impact
Too Late For Tears http://www.archive.org/details/TooLateForTears
Quicksand! http://www.archive.org/details/Quicksand_clear
-Jeff Kaplan
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Of course, success for this wonderful film
It is big fan of this Filam honest, fun and stay in Almakr
Regards
nice information, glad to know this information
thank you
To add to this list, I’d also like to suggest “Detour,” apparently the first poverty-row film noir to be chosen by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Also very highly rated by the Internet Movie Database.
http://www.archive.org/details/Detour_movie
I agree, “Detour” is a great movie!!!
D.O.A.
http://www.archive.org/details/doa_ipod
Scarlet Street
http://www.archive.org/details/ScarletStreet
The Stranger
http://www.archive.org/details/TheStranger_0
The Lost World
http://www.archive.org/details/TheLostWorld_207
Salome
http://www.archive.org/details/Salomfebruary151923
Vampyr
http://www.archive.org/details/Vampyr1932
weird and wonderful and even orson welles!
Those are all worthy additions for watching, but none of those are “little known”, whereas the five on the original list are not very widely viewed.
They are little know in this day and age unless you’re a film geek – which means they are little known, LOL!
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In “Suddenly,” the role of Benny Conklin was played by legendary voice actor Paul Frees (Boris Badenov, Ludwig von Drake, Bergermeister Meisterberger, etc.)
great info!
It’s too bad he only had about 3 speaking lines in the whole movie though.
I recommend that “The Hitch-hiker” is added to this list. A great small-budget movie that is thoroughly worth watching. The acting and direction are flawless.
I’d add that I agree with “The Hitch-hiker” being added to this list. The Hitch-hiker was directed by Ida Lupino. Ida Lupino was ground breaking in that she was a woman who made great films in an industry dominated by male directors. Another example you’ll find here is “The Bigamist”… also a great film.
Great thoughts. I’ve enjoyed reading these comments. Perhaps one of the visitors here can help me identify a film where I remember bits of dialogue. I think it was Mickey Rooney (though I admit my memory is shaky on this) who asks, “Whose army should I join?” The person he’s talking to asks him if he’s ready to fight and Rooney replies that he is. I don’t recall much else from the film as I was a young boy when I saw it. Why this one scene sticks out in memory I haven’t a clue. If someone can help point me in the right direction I’d be most appreciative. Rooney always struck me as an actor willing to take chances and find the truth in the roles he played. Well, thanks!!
Could be thinking of the Bob Hope film “Off Limits”?
your archive blogs are most informative and therefore educational.
thanks very much for uploading this very interesting information,
cheers and keep up the good work !
Yours cordially,
Laura M. Daitch/ Qbc, CDN, currently residing in Munich, Germany
I love watching movies esp. d classic Hollywood Golden era mainly after d coming of sound. I came to know about this site from About.com-Movies in a Laurie Boeder’s blog. It sure is a swell site that u r operating out here. Thanks.
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Nice movie this “Quicksand” title. Really enjoyed it, I was effortlessly drawn to the story.
I am so interested in finding out what the Archive is Public Domain an what is not, what can be reuploaded and what cannot, some films say “public Domain” then some places say they are not, it’s all so confusing, is there any simple, easy to follow site on copyright? that anyone can tell me about, I thought everything on here was PD?
Another good one was Whistlestop starring Ava Gardner. She was young and drop dead georgeous. Many of those women from the Golden Age had great looks, but also a riveting presence on screen. Julia Roberts, Anjelica Jolie, etc. are not even close to the beauty and brilliance of the movie stars of the Golden Age.
Wow, I was just told about this site, amazing. Maybe I am just getting old, but the older movies just seem to have so much more class then anything produced now a days.
Sam, I think that you are, indeed, getting old, because if you see ” A Separation” and Iranian movie of 2012 then you’ll see that there are still young people doing master jobs out there overpowering by far all the domestic biggies nominated for the Oscars this year.
i would not feel alone, everybody must see ‘the wet parade’….’30s about prohibition.
NEED to watch this one..
What a wonderful site! This is what the www is all about! Information readily available for everyone to enjoy! Kudos to archive.org.
Heather
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Hi Sam,
I don’t know how old are you but I am 24 years old and I also think that there are more class in old movies than the ones which we see know at tv.
Just wanted to say a big thank you to the people who work so hard on this archive. I’ve been using it for years to browse films, text and webpages and I don’t think I’ve ever visited without finding something of interest. A real treasure of knowledge which I hope will forever be available. Thank you.
I have a question that is related – but hopefully not too distant from those who visit here: Does anyone recall a movie about a boy orphaned during WW2 whose despair was noticed by an American soldier who eventually cared for him as his own son when he couldn’t find anyone else? That’s all I can remember. I don’t even know who the actors in it were. Any information would be appreciated!
You are probably thinking of THE SEARCH with Montgomery Clift.
Could the film be “Dondi?” It starred David Janssen. The film took its inspiration from , I believe, the long-running comic strip which started in the mid-’50s.
“Dondi” was what first came to my mind also. Saw that as a little kid when it first came out. Loved it then, but later realized it was pretty much just a crappy sentimental piece of schlock…..
Deeae?
Sounds like JG Ballard’s autobio adapted by Stoppard, directed by Spielberg (’tis scarringly beautiful) Empire Of The Sun. Christian Bale, John Malcovich, Joe Pantoliano, Miranda Richardson and Ben Stiller.
“Hey Kid, wanna a candy bar?”- Basie
It could be “The Search” starring Montgomery Clift and directed by
Fred Zinnemann!
Hello,
Nice Article! I have read your post and it seems good! I love classic films. My favourite film is Atlantic City. I tell this article to my friends. Nice post!
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I wonder what the movie is called from the piece in Home Alone “it’s me, snakes” you know that part right? I don’t know what that movie is called, saw the piece on persoonlijke lening about money.
@Angeline That movie is called ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’, made in 1938.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029870/
It’s actually a movie within a movie. It is kind of a knock-off of Angels with Dirty Faces though. It’s called Angles with Filthy Souls. Here’s some info:
http://homealone.wikia.com/wiki/Angels_with_Filthy_Souls
great list of movies here, would like to see ‘the lost patrol’ and ‘a night to remember’ added at some point to your library
I’m really really old and want to add to the “older movies have more class” debate. While we today are aware of every new movie that comes out, we only are exposed to a fraction of the oldies, generally the good ones. There was plenty of junk playing the week “Casablanca” came out, it’s just nobody wants to see it so it’s unavailable, unadvertised, never discussed in books or film classes.
I came of age in the 70′s and I hear people talk about how great movies were in that era. Try sitting through Battle for the Planet of the Apes or EarthQuake. Go on, do it.
I think James & Purrete are right.
There is indeed a lot of crap and it takes time to find the beautiful ones. But there is as much creativity now as there was in other areas.
I too like the “class” of some of the old movies, the slower tempo and sometimes the bigger subtelty. But that are only certain aspects of movies, there are other aspects which can make a movie wothwhile as well.
(I’m not native English, excuse me if I phrased something a little silly)
Wish you would add a “Share” button.
In the movies, you can click on the Archive-symbol to share the movie.
fantastic – I’ve been looking for WC Fields stuff for ages – brilliant.
Thank you.#
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On the whole I’d rather be in Phillidelpia – WCF. Tombstone
These classics are great! I can watch these over and over again.
Thanks for this great info, I love old movies of myself and have also been following your advice, Thanks for this post
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I am looking for the original movie called The International made in the 1960′s or 1970′s, I think. One of the actors was Barbara Bach but have no idea who the leading male actor was. Then came the Clive Owen/Naomi Watts version of The International made in 2009. Can you help me locate the VHS or DVD for the original?
i just have seen the first movie in your top ten “Horror Express” and it was great to see how they make a movie with minimum special effects.Sometimes you have to laugh to.
No to number 9 “Dragonwyck”.
I’ll let you hear how that was.
“Asphalt Jungle”
I’ll add one that not a lot of folks have seen.
Ramrod – 1947.
Directed by Andre De Toth, probably best known for Crime Wave I guess?
It’s kind of a noir western, I’d never seen anything like it. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere online, but have seen it at a couple specialty movie stores. Possibly it’s even on netflix?
Worth a look anyway.
Not sure I’d put too late for tears on that list, none the less, great post!
I LOVE Too Late For Tears! And Quicksand as well, both greatly under appreciated in my opinion.
Of course there are some good movies being made to this day, and it’s true that most of the oldies that survive we’re the cream of the crop, BUT, these small budget B and maybe even C movies, like Too Late For Tears, aka Killer Bait, I think those were the truly special ones, and there are scores of them. I am an admitted noir fanatic, and have a pretty extensive collection. There certainly aren’t many low budget movies in the last fifty years as good as:
The Anthony Mann noirs, especially Raw Deal, Side Street, Desperate, and Railroaded…all somewhat rare, and true genius. Edgar Ulmers Strange Illusion, And Ruthless both “unknown” relative to the now famous Detour are fantastic. And Val Lewton! (Cat People, I Married a Zombie, The Seventh Victim, among others). Pretty much anything with the cinematographer John Alton.
I’d rather watch these movies repeatedly than at least 90% of what’s being made now. I am 47 and these oldies are all before my time. Thankfully, NYC used to have several revival houses, so I was fortunate enough to be introduced. And
now this site and YouTube, and others have made so many of the great oldies available. I am grateful beyond imagination.
Excellent site! A real service to b & w movie fans and the posts here are insightful and informative….refreshing to see them. I believe the Best Movie of 1945 was the Lost Weekend directed by Billy Wilder (can you believe this genius also directed the cross-dressing hilarious 1958 movie “Some Like it Hot”?! Is the Lost Weekend available on public domain. I’d skip breakfast, lunch and take-out pizza to see this truly classic film that deals with an ‘untouchable’ (at that time) subject. It’s riveting to watch this truly noir hypnotc tale of an aspiring young writer’s disintegration and…….Is it available here? Watching the LOST WEEKEND right after D.O.A. would be enough to drive anyone to drink from The Bottle!!:) Thanks…..
Thanks for archiving these classics which are sure to thrill now as they did back then.
کلیپ.ثوپر.زنان.دوجنسی.کیردار
winter has never been so good since discovering this site and all wonderful films….thankyou
I am deaf since birth. Also I am an electronic book programmer. I would like to know if it is possible for your company to insert captions of conversation or dialogue in each public domain films. So I might be able to sell them to the deaf people all over the country. Be hearing from you soon.
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I showed a young friend the powerful and shocking, politically INcorrect movie
called the “The Well” made in 1951 with Richard Rober and music by Dimitri
Tiomkin! My young friend was, to say the least, “shattered”! He was stunned to
think that they would make a film about such an explosive subject! It is a heart-
breaking, and a wonderful uplifting movie! Humans are loving and compassionate
when faced with a crisis! Watch it! You won’t be disappointed!
Been browsing I.A. movies for some time,especially recently. Been watching some serials,eg hurricane express,etc.downloaded most 1st,its easier to follow.
A great site,such variety.